Small business ownership can be great and awful at the same time. And those of us who do this for a living know how inescapable this choice of ownership can be. Therein lies one of the biggest challenges in small business, the fact that the owner can’t get away.

There was a great song in the sixties by the Eagles named “Hotel California.” The last stanza reads as follows:

“The last thing I remember,
I was running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before

’Relax,’ said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout anytime you like,
But you can never leave!”

TIMEOUT! was written for business owners who feel like they can’t leave. Tired owners who feel stuck spending most of their time on the urgent and very little on the important.

Timeout can help you escape.

What inspired you to write your book?

I am now retired from owning two small business over thirty some years. I counsel and teach for an organization called SCORE. There, I talk to hundreds of owners who are in this head down condition and looking for ideas. Thankfully, I have discovered some solutions and the book is a collection of those ideas.

Can you describe a typical day in your life?

As I mentioned I am retired so I don’t do this full time, but my time at SCORE is spent teaching and counseling. I enjoy both. In my classes and in my private sessions, we don’t deal with much theory; we talk about real problems and practical solutions. I have learned that while everyone is different, there are some reoccurring fundamental issues that always seem to block progress.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?

I love watching the stuck-ness go away after talking with a client. Business owners usually come in beat up and worn out. I love it when they leave excited and turned on again.

Are there any people and/or books that have inspired you along your journey?

Some of my favorite authors are: Jim Collins, Seth Godin, Malcolm Gladwell and Kouzes and Posner. These people are straightforward and dead on with their logic.

My father had a lot influence on me and he was a small business guy too. He had a phrase that seemed to come out frequently: “A good deal is only a good deal, when it is good for both parties.” This little truth helps me remember that there is always more than me in every transaction.

Can you share some of your best advice for our readers?

As I said earlier, business can be tough, that’s for sure. But it can also be the most rewarding thing in your life. I only spent half a decade or so in large corporations but I found out it was not for me. Or maybe I wasn’t built for them. I need the independence that private ownership affords. I need the freedom to create the environment in which I and those around me work. I enjoyed recognizing in people what they were good at doing and then watching them flourish. Big companies are too busy being big. Small companies can turn on a dime and react quickly to the ever shifting marketplace. I believe that small business can really make a difference in people’s lives and because of that it is so worth effort.

And when you are all done building your company to the level of your desires, you can sell it to someone else who wants to take it to the next level.

What’s next for you?

Writing this book was so far outside of my comfort zone, I’m not going to try anything new for a while. Besides, with nine grandkids and lots of interesting clients, my life is pretty full. We are truly blessed!

How did Authority Publishing help you with your author journey?

Stephanie Chandler and the way she tailors a program for first time writers like myself, was most helpful. I had no idea how much work there is to finishing a book.

And Stephanie’s editor, Amberly Finarelli was so very accommodating and encouraging. There were several times when I wanted to throw the whole thing out the window but each time they brought me back from the brink.

This is a professional team and good at what they do.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

If you are struggling in business, please go get help. There a number of gracious people who would be glad to give you a hand or at least a second pair of eyes to look at your company. Sole ownership is not a sentence to being alone.

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